Barriers to green procurement of the Iranian construction industry: an interpretive structural modeling approach

Green procurement (GP) is an essential aspect of the Iranian construction industry, exerting a significant impact on all parts of the construction supply chain. The adoption of GP is crucial for achieving sustainability dimensions based on economic, environmental, and social factors throughout the extensive procurement process in construction projects. This study examines the barriers to the adoption of GP in the Iranian construction industry, which has yet to embrace modern technologies and recent advances in this area. First of all, through a comprehensive literature review, common obstacles to GP implementation were identified globally. A questionnaire survey was designed to classify the most crucial barriers to GP implementation in the Iranian context. The results reveal that the lack of environmental preferences among external stakeholders, unavailability of green products in the local market, and inadequate governmental incentives are the most significant barriers impeding the adaptation of GP. To investigate and rank the interrelationships among these barriers, an interpretive structural modeling method has been established. The lack of life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost (LCC) perspectives, high costs of green products, incompatible products, and the lack of suppliers’ competency are the five most fundamental hurdles to the adoption of GP in the Iranian construction industry. Particularly, knowledge improvement should include LCA and LCC training. Suppliers’ competency should also be enhanced to minimize the green emissions of products and maximize their compatibility, representing the main finding to improve the efficiency of the construction supply chain.